Clough: Our Players Did Nothing Out of Order

Derby County boss Nigel Clough has defended his players, saying they did 'nothing out of order' in the brawl following Gorka Pintado's sending off.

The Swansea City striker had recently come on as a second half substitute before being shown his marching order for a two-footed tackle on Robbie Savage, a brawl quickly followed and even their goalkeeper got away with throwing a punch at the Spaniard.

Clough said:

"Our players did nothing out of order.

"The officials were right there in the corner when it all kicked off and didn`t show one yellow card to any other player.

"They are right there and didn`t see anything at all and they are the ones who are meant to be in control of it.

"We don`t want our players to walk away from that situation, we expect them to support their team-mate in the manner they did.

"No-one wants punches thrown or anything like that but they are entitled to be there to support a player, especially after a tackle like that."

Of course, Clough agreed with the decision to send off Pintado but not the one to show McEveley a second yellow for a challenge on Nathan Dyer.

He added: "Jay has said the little lad (Nathan Dyer) just ran into him but I don`t think there was any dispute about the second one.

"It was a two-footed challenge from behind, feet off the floor and I think that in itself led to the problems in the corner."